Arnold Beckman dies at 104

Arnold Beckman, philanthropist and inventor of the pH meter and DU spectrophotometer, died last week. He was 104.The son of a blacksmith, Beckman created instruments that are now employed in virtually every laboratory across the globe, then used his fortune to up the pace of basic research. "This person created this instrumentation revolution, starting in the 1930s, that really accelerated what we now call biotechnology," Peter B. Dervan, Bren Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, told The Scientist. Dervan, who knew Beckman for 20 years, said that the current state of research would not have been what it is without him. "I think that he changed the way we live," he said.Born in Cullom, Ill. in 1900, Beckman helped fund his education by playing piano for silent movies. He received a BS and MS degree in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology; he then joined that institution's faculty. As the story goes, in 1934, Beckman was asked by a friend to measure the acidity of some California lemons. At that time, chemists interested in uncovering pH had to go through a laborious and often inaccurate process, Dervan said. The device Beckman created—one of the first to unite electronics and chemistry—greatly simplified that process, and other people soon began asking for it.Seeing an opportunity, Beckman left school to become a businessman, and set up a company that operated out of his California garage, now a multi-billion dollar enterprise called Beckman Coulter. "This was one of the earliest high-tech startups," Dervan said.Over the years, Beckman and his colleagues assembled a number of other seminal inventions, including the DU spectrophotometer to measure the chemical makeup of substances, and the Helipot, a variable resistance device that served as an underpinning to the radar systems employed during World War II.Beckman also helped invent a device that measured oxygen levels in enclosed spaces. According to Pierre Wiltzius, director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, this tool was originally employed in submarines during World War II. Once the war ended, the same device monitored air in incubators to prevent premature babies from going blind from lack of oxygen. "He always felt that was the much more important application," Wiltzius told The Scientist.Once Beckman began to amass a fortune, he turned to philanthropy, establishing the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation in Irvine, Calif., and the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois.Beckman's accolades include the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, the 1988 National Medal of Technology, the 1989 Presidential Citizens Medal, the 1989 National Medal of Science, and the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. His pH meter was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society.Beyond his achievements, Beckman's colleagues remember him as a humble, polite man who predicted the explosive growth in biotechnology and other areas of research years before they came to pass.According to William Greenough, co-chair of the Biological Intelligence Research Theme at the Beckman Institute, it was Beckman's modesty that helped him to see clearly where research was heading, and act accordingly. "He could keep himself out of the picture, and simply look at the picture," Greenough, who knew Beckman for 20 years, told The Scientist.Beckman created a set of seven rules to live by, and Dervan said that he remembers #7—Don't take yourself too seriously—whenever he finds himself getting upset over something at work.Some other Beckman rules Dervan recalled include: There is no satisfactory substitute for excellence; Never injure another person; Integrity at all times; and If you're going to do something, do it right.

Arnold Beckman dies at 104

Inventor of the pH meter amassed a fortune and pumped millions into basic research

May 24, 2004

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